The term "selfie" was popularized by designer and photographer Jim Krause in the mid-2000s.

A selfie is a genre of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone.

In December 2012, Time magazine noted that selfie was among its the "top 10 buzzwords" of 2012; although selfies had existed for years, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time".

In 2013 artist Patrick Specchio and the Museum of Modern Art presented an exhibit called Art in Translation: Selfie, The 20/20 Experience, in which viewers use a provided digital camera to take photographs of themselves in a large mirror.